Jean Piaget is a prominent child psychologist who provided proof of cognitive development through various experiments on his own children. I do not have children myself, yet methods related to cognitive development is intriguing in relation to my own childhood. Reading "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne reminds me of several base concepts drawn from Piaget and others with similar opinions.
Even as a baby, people are learning. A one year old knows there is something wrong when something falls up, beyond bouncing. They anticipate the rebound. With simple observation, though unable to explain the event, it is contrary to previous observation. This type of learning happens while playing. A scientist must play in the water to understand sound waves. Everyone has seen ripples, heard splashing or felting ripples. Without this shared knowledge the explanation does not make sense in a classroom setting.
In recent years, some psychologists decided to prevent children from having imaginary friends. A list of improper behavior is overtaking the nation. However, Christopher Robin is an only child. Is it complex understanding people will grow and learn in similar patterns? Without siblings there are many hours in the day and entertaining games continue the learning process. Of course, in this situation an only child is in complete control of all events, as they are not interacting with peers. The child or children go out to play. They find diversions to imagine the events. Communicating the events make it realistic, while testing their knowledge.
Piaget proved children are unaware of lying until age seven; however, I have witnessed children as young as five who already figured out how to pass blame onto their siblings. Perhaps they are favored, learning in any situations it is not their fault. The other sibling is responsible. In any case, the activity of play is how people gain cognitive methods for learning. An only child needs to learn to work in groups, while a child from a large family needs to learn to work alone. Both benefit from expanding coping mechanisms for either situation.
At times it appears a way to one-up their peers. Some children are only children and live in communities where it is difficult finding people of the same age. They learn on their own and it looks odd to a casual observer; however, this activity relates to making boring words in a textbook exciting, so it makes sense in class. They are also learning how to solve problems. When a person wraps their arms around a pillow to stimulate the idea of holding a person, it is comforting though behaving differently when holding an actual person. They recognize the difference between real and imaginary.
Summations are brutal at times. It is as though people forgot playing with toy cars or dolls as a child. Is it different when two or more children make funny noises for small scale cars or arguing over whose female doll went prom with the male doll? It is slightly different, yet not signifying anything beyond being a child.
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